A person's fighting spirit has been consumed by time, and Xiao Yan is the best example.

In the early days of his accession, he worked hard, even in winter, he had to get up on the fifth watch day to correct the sparseness, and his hands were frozen and cracked, which was called the small Gao Cheng of the Southern Dynasty.

It is precisely because of Xiao Yan's efforts that in the early days of the Southern Liang Dynasty, many malpractices of the Song and Qi dynasties were changed, and under the background of the Jiupin Zhongzheng system, the Five Classics Examination was set up to promote the children of the Han family and break the monopoly of the scholars on official positions.

Militarily, under the concerted efforts of Wei Rui, Cao Jingzong, Pei Di and other famous generals of the time, Zhongli won a great victory, capturing 50,000 Wei troops, and the rest of the people who were drowned or killed by water were countless, more than 100,000 giants, and Wang Yuanying, the commander of the Wei army, Zhongshan County, was only spared and fled north in panic.

However, Xiao Yan has been the Son of Heaven for too many years, and in 502, the 38-year-old Xiao Yan became the emperor, and now he has been in power for 38 years.

The 76-year-old Xiao Yan missed the opportunity of civil strife in the Northern Wei Dynasty one after another, especially the successful example of Chen Qingzhi, which made him obsessed with a small group of troops to go north to win prizes, which also proved that he did not have the ambition to purge the universe.

If it weren't for the fact that the Gao clan is now aggressive and determined to unify the north, Xiao Yanzhen doesn't want to withdraw from the vast Buddhism, take care of these mundane things, and participate in the study of subtle Buddhism.

Xiao Yan didn't want to forge ahead, but he also knew that Shoucheng, the Gao family father and son were going to join forces to move west, and the Western Wei Dynasty was in danger.

At this time, sit and wait for the Eastern Wei Dynasty to complete the unification and move south, in the case of Wei Rui, Cao Jingzong, and Pei Di dying one after another, who can be expected to fight a Zhongli battle to stabilize the situation between the two Huai.

was once easily taken away by Gao Cheng (that is, Southern Yanzhou, which was annexed by Yuzhou during the adjustment of Henan's region), but Xiahou Kui, the first elite general of Southern Liang, also died in Zhou Town at the age of fifty-six, and he had no chance to find a place from Gao Cheng's hands until he died.

And Chen Qingzhi, who has repeatedly hit a wall in front of Yaoxiong, also died of illness in October last year at the age of 56.

If he really wants to give Xiao Yan another set of Wei Rui, Cao Jingzong, and Pei Di's configuration, he is not afraid of the southern expedition after the unification of the Gao family, but now the withering of famous generals in the army is an indisputable thing, so he can't help but be anxious.

In fact, the Southern Dynasty was not without the talent of generals, whether it was Chen Baxian, who followed Xiao Yao to Guangzhou, or Wang Shengbi, who quelled the Hou Jing Rebellion in the future, they were all the best choices, but they were not known by Xiao Yan for various reasons.

For example, Chen Baxian's status is too humble, even if he is promoted by Xiao Yi, he is now only a direct soldier to join the army, and Wang Seng Biao is also in the shogunate of Xiangdong Wang Xiao Yi at this time, and has successively served as a soldier in the army, a middle soldier in the army, and a government Sima.

Wang Shengbi was still dormant in the shogunate, waiting for his opportunity, while Chen Baxian had the opportunity to show his talents on the battlefield.

After Xiao Ying arrived in Guangzhou, he immediately ordered Chen Ba to first recruit soldiers, assemble war horses, and get thousands of soldiers, and then made Chen Ba lead his troops to be stationed in Songlong County, Guangzhou (Gaoming City, Guangdong).

coincided with the disobedience of the two counties of Anhua under the rule of Nanliang, Chen Baxian immediately led the troops to quell the rebellion, and was awarded the Xijiang Governor and the Gaoyao County Guard for his merits.

Chen Baxian, who was struggling in Lingnan, did not know that a big war was about to break out in the north, let alone that next year, there would be a rebellion in Jiaozhou that would sweep the entire North Vietnam, and this would also be an opportunity for Chen Baxian to rise.

Today's Vietnam, the north is controlled by the Southern Liang, and there is a Linyi country in the south, since the Eastern Jin Dynasty, the Linyi country often attacks the border of Jiaozhou, and next year Jiaozhou is in troubled waters, it is also destined to get involved in it, and there is no reason to let go.

However, whether it is Jiaozhou, Guangzhou or Linyi, they are remote and have nothing to do with the overall situation, except that Gao Cheng will let the spies in Southern Liang pay attention, in the context of the Eastern Wei Dynasty's imminent westward expedition, no one cares that the former oil depot officials fought a victory in Guangzhou and became a county guard.

For the Southern Liang magnates, the most eye-catching news today is that Xiao Yan, the son of heaven, ordered to gather troops in Hanzhong and Huaishui, and raise troops for the Northern Expedition during Gao's westward expedition.

Therefore, there was a very interesting scene in the land of China, the two Wei and Southern Liang have gathered troops, if it is in the game of "Three Kingdoms 11", Jinyang, Chang'an, and Hanzhong will inevitably turn dark green in the display of troops.

Xiao Yan ordered 50,000 Shu soldiers to rush to Hanzhong, trying to threaten the Kwantung region from the eastern front, and the western front sent troops from Hanzhong to join forces with the Western Wei to resist the enemy.

Now only waiting for the Eastern Wei Dynasty to complete the recruitment of people, from Jinyang through Puban to enter the customs, a major war covering the two Wei and Southern Liang countries is about to break out.

Although the Eastern Wei Dynasty was strong, it was one enemy and two enemies, and it was difficult to predict who would kill the deer.

When Gao Cheng learned of the military transfer of the Southern Liang, the autumn harvest had been completed, and the first batch of nearly 400,000 people from various states in Shanxi who came to Jinyang also arrived one after another, in addition to the 400,000 people in Shanxi, there were 150,000 people in Hebei and 150,000 people in Henan who were still on the way, and a total of 700,000 people were recruited.

Combined with the 236,000 soldiers, the total number of soldiers and civilians in the Western Expedition was 936,000.

When all the people of Sanhe arrived in Jinyang, Gao Huan immediately ordered his staff to write a letter to Yuwentai.

Gao Huan said in the letter that he would lead an army of one million and hunt with Yuwentai, and there was no lack of arrogance in his words.

The arrogant appearance jumped on the paper, Gao Huan didn't mean anything else, no matter whether there were dates or not, let's talk about it first, in case Yuwentai really thought that he had made the old mistake of underestimating the enemy again, and under the slackness, there might be an opportunity to take advantage of it.

Gao Cheng is not optimistic about this, Yuwentai is not stupid, Gao Huan was defeated by a light enemy three years ago, and he was dormant for three years, how could he relapse.

But he didn't persuade, after all, he just let the messenger go to the border and send a letter, and it didn't cost anything, so why not try, if there was a case, such as Yuwentai suddenly reduced his intelligence, no one could say, just like before the battle of Shayuan, who could know that Gao Huan would faint and leave a disaster for his descendants.

Jinyang gathered 700,000 people, and there must not be so many people living in the city, so a large camp of people was set up outside the city, and the tents were endless, standing on the city wall, and there was no end in sight.

After an autumn rain, Gao Cheng held an umbrella and stepped on the muddy road to inspect the Minfu camp under the escort of Su Xi Shele, Xue Huer and others.

Everywhere he went, King Xiao Gao always had to carefully ask the people if they had prepared winter clothes and quilts, and the daily food was enough.

At this time, it is late autumn, and it is about to enter winter, if the logistics cannot be guaranteed, who knows how many people will freeze to death.

Fortunately, everyone is living a good life now, and there is no so-called phenomenon of being unclothed, and in a certain corner of the camp, more and more people are gathering.

Gao Cheng promised in front of everyone that in the next year after the war, the families of the people would be exempted from taxes, and the rent of the acres would be reduced or reduced in an appropriate amount.

In the cheers and praise of the people, Gao Cheng went to the next place again.

On the third day of October in the ninth year of Taichang (540), in the early winter, with Gao Huan ascending to the general's stage, in the face of more than 230,000 troops, he made a generous speech, bitterly stated the harm of national splitting, and promised heavy benefits for the soldiers, and the second western expedition of the Eastern Wei Dynasty began.

Gao Cheng led 35,000 Gyeonggi troops and 1,000 personal guards first, accompanied by 100,000 people, and in the army, Gao Aocao was the front army, and Murong Shaozong, Hu Luguang, Hou Yuan, Liu Feng, Wei Xingqing and others each led their subordinates to accompany them.

Gao Huan personally commanded 200,000 and Hu Jihou, and the generals who accompanied the army included Hu Lujin, Dou Tai, Peng Le, Pan Le, Hu Lu Qiangju, Hu Lu Xian, Xue Guyan, Mo Duo Lou Daiwen, etc., and Gao Huan, Gao Cheng's father and son's common henchman Chen Yuankang, Gao Huan intended to take him in the army, but was dissuaded by Gao Cheng, and stayed in Jinyang to allocate follow-up materials on his behalf.

Chen Yuankang is greedy, but he knows the importance of it, and more importantly, his loyalty to Tara is doubtful, he is a scribe, no soldiers and no generals, why should he rebel, not to mention that with Gao Huan and Gao Cheng's trust in him, he has no reason to rebel.

At the Puban Ferry, the Yellow River is surging, but compared with the rest of the river, the current is already gentle.

With Gao Cheng's order, the people began to build pontoon bridges in an orderly manner to prepare for the crossing of the river by the Gyeonggi army and the 200,000 troops of Gao Huan, who was about to arrive.

Even if the other side of the river was the troops sent by Wang Sizheng to meet it, Gao Cheng still sent a sentry to cross the river first, and then spread out to check whether there was an ambush, in case Yuwentai sneaked over and played something half-crossing.

After confirming the safety, he ordered Gao Aocao and other generals to cross the river in order, and he and his personal guards and 100,000 people fell at the end of the river crossing sequence.

Seeing this, the primary school sent by Wang Sizheng said with emotion:

"The general is cautious, and it is difficult to find it through the ages."

I don't know if it's a compliment, or what, but I think the ancients didn't have so much yin and yang.

Prudence is the tone set by Gao Cheng and Gao Huan for this expedition to the west, and they will not pursue tricks.

While the so-called conspiracy can reap huge rewards, it also means great risks and adds many unstable factors.

Sitting on an army of more than 230,000 people, the father and son of the Gao family were unwilling to take such a risk, they made up their minds to fight steadily and steadily, and they faced off against the two armies of Yuwentai on the battlefield.

Even if it is a mutual attrition, let the soldiers on both sides exchange their lives for their lives, and their own families will be the final winner.

Even if the amount of post-war pension is larger, it is not worth mentioning compared with the value of the reunification of Guanzhong.

Gao Huan arrived at Pusaka on the day Gao Cheng crossed the river, and when Gao Cheng assembled his troops on the opposite bank, Gao Huan also gave the order to cross the river, and the 200,000 troops and the remaining 600,000 people crossed the river in turn.

A large number of war horses, pack horses and donkeys that had been hauling ordnance, grain and grass and other materials were also led by the people to walk across the pontoon bridge with the reins, and this crossing was a full two days before Gao Huan regrouped his troops on the west bank.

During this period, many animals fell into the water, causing countless splashes, but they could only watch their cries for help surging away with the river, gradually drifting away.

At the beginning, Gao Cheng was still unbearable, but he also knew that at this time, letting people jump off the Yellow River to save people was tantamount to teaching people to die, and he could only stand by and watch, seeing too much, and people became numb.

After everyone crossed the river and regrouped, Gao Cheng immediately sent people to count the names and origins of those who fell into the water, and if they still did not see their whereabouts after the war, he also wanted to put these people on the pension list.

However, it is impossible to find the whereabouts of these people, and it is more likely that they will be buried in the belly of a fish or salvaged as floating corpses.

Gao Cheng waited for Gao Huan to complete the assembly of the army before continuing to set off, and the Gyeonggi army marched to Yubi City as the vanguard.

After Yuwentai got the news, he immediately led 48,000 soldiers, 100,000 state and county soldiers, a total of 148,000 troops and the recruited Minfu Tun stationed in Bashang, waiting for the arrival of reinforcements from Hanzhong in Southern Liang and converged with it.

Southern Liang sent 50,000 Shu soldiers to the north through Hanzhong to support, and the commander of this army was Xiao Yan's eighth son, Xiao Ji, the king of Wuling County, Yizhou.

Xiao Ji is now only thirty-two years old, and he was appointed as the assassin of Yizhou in 537, and it has been more than three years since then.

Originally, Xiao Ji was reluctant to go to Bashu, and the country of abundance in everyone's impression is different, from the end of the Western Jin Dynasty to the two hundred years before Xiao Ji entered Shu, the Shu people rebelled against tyranny one after another, and the wars in Shu were frequent, so there was a bad reputation of "Shu people are happy and greedy".

Before Xiao Ji entered Shu, most of the people of Shu fled in order to escape the war, and a large number of cities were deserted, and the bureaucrats who originally lived on the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau took advantage of this to go down the mountain and moved into Shu one after another.

The bureaucrats were often called slang and fangs by the imperial court, and by looking at this word, you can know the general opinion of the mainstream public opinion on this group at that time.

In the past, the officials of Shu had to recruit the bureaucrats every year, and relied on capturing the bureaucrats as slaves or plundering the property of the bureaucrats to supplement their public and private needs.

Therefore, the ethnic contradictions in Shu are acute, and the bureaucrats often set off rebellions.

Such a mess, how willing is Xiao Ji to pick it up.

It was Xiao Yan's painstaking persuasion that made Xiao Jixin reluctantly set off, after all, Jiankang is prosperous, who can give it up, isn't the singer and dancer on the Qinhuai River beautiful?

Xiao Ji was twenty-nine years old as the assassin of Yizhou, although he violated his heart, but he did not put it badly, he ruled Shu for three years, committed to alleviating national contradictions, changed the rough attitude towards the bureaucrats in the past, and mainly soothed, and changed the disorderly and chaotic state of Shu for two hundred years.

In addition, he has also made great achievements in governance, (Zizhi Tongjian: the government of cultivating mulberry salt and iron internally, and the benefits of foreign trade Jia Yuan, so it can be used for financial purposes, and the armor is accumulated. It has made outstanding contributions to the economic recovery and development of Shudi.

At the beginning of this year, in recognition of Xiao Ji's governance of Shu, Xiao Yan crowned him as the general of the expedition to the west, and his preference for this capable son was more than that, Xiao Yan disregarded the imperial court's policy of "containing the prince", and allowed Xiao Ji's eldest son, Xiao Yuanzhao, who should have been a hostage in Jiankang, to enter Shu together.

Perhaps Xiao Yan chose Xiao Ji to enter Shu, because he decided that only this son could make Shu from chaos to governance, and it turned out that he did not pick the wrong person.

However, Xiao Yan's preference for Xiao Ji also aroused the dissatisfaction of many brothers, such as Gao Cheng's half-brother Xiao Lun, who is the Xiao Lun who makes people pretend to be Xiao Yan, beat him up, and loves to cry filial piety for others and be a filial son on his behalf.

Xiao Lun was often punished by Xiao Yan for all kinds of filial piety, and compared with Xiao Ji's favor, he was even more resentful, and once sighed:

'What merit does King Wuling have, and his official position is above me?' The court is stupid and doesn't know how to use people! ’

As the sixth son, Xiao Lun was depressed because of the favor of his eighth brother Xiao Ji, and after the matter reached Xiao Yan's ears, he couldn't escape a scolding.

Xiao Ji is not the only one who hates Xiao Ji, in the original time and space, Xiao Ji was stabbed to death by Xiao Yi's department after he failed to compete for the world with the lord of Wang Seng and Xiao Yan's seventh son, Xiao Yi, the king of Xiangdong.

Xiao Yi was particularly angry about this, and expelled Xiao Ji from the clan and changed his surname to gluttony.

It is worth saying that it was because Xiao Ji raised troops from Shu and marched east out of Sichuan to compete for the throne of Southern Liang that he gave the Western Wei an opportunity to enter Sichuan.

It is precisely because of the news of the Western Wei Dynasty's entry into Sichuan that Xiao Jijun's heart was disintegrated, resulting in his failure, and Nanliang also lost the land of Shu, a fratricidal tragedy, but the biggest beneficiary was the Western Wei who stole the family.

Xiao Ji has now ruled Shu for three years, which is quite effective, but Xiao Yan is not at ease to let his son, who has never led the army, take charge of the 50,000 army to go north, so he arranged a deputy general for him, this person is named Lan Qin, and Lan Qin's son Lan Jing is also with the army.

Lan Qin's famous generals have a much higher gold content than Xiahou Kui, he has a decisive personality since he was a child, has both courage and courage, and has the talent to command, can make his subordinates serve the dead, and has been in the army for many years, not only has repeatedly made military exploits, but also recovered Hanzhong from Southern Liang.

After Chen Qingzhi's death, Lan Qin was the real general, and Yao Silian, a historian in the early Tang Dynasty, also called Chen Qingzhi and Lan Qin together in his book "Book of Liang", saying:

'Chen Qingzhi and Lan Qin both have a general strategy, and they defeated and captured, Gai (Lian) Po, (Li) Mu, Wei (Qing), and Huo (to sick) Ya Zhen. ’

However, Lan Qin's light is no match for his son Lan Jing.

Lan Jing's prestige was not obtained from the battlefield, in the original time and space, he was captured by the Eastern Wei Dynasty very early, perhaps because his performance on the battlefield was too embarrassing, and the "Book of Liang" did not even mention that Lan Qin had such a son.

But it did not prevent him from doing something great in his days as a prisoner that would change the direction of history.

Lan Qin just recovered Hanzhong, but when Lan Jing was a slave to Gao Cheng, he repeatedly asked for return and was not allowed, and teamed up with five accomplices to train Gao Huan as the heir for 17 years, sent troops to occupy Lianghuai, and assassinated the usurped Eastern Wei ministers, which also made the Sinicization of the Eastern Wei Dynasty completely end, and paved the way for the subsequent succession of brothers to the throne of the Gao family.

King Xiao Gao didn't know that he was going to have an encounter with his fate, but it didn't hurt to know, he didn't have to be a prisoner as a food slave, he didn't have to poison or not, and just spitting in pots and bowls could disgust people.

If Lan Jing becomes a prisoner again, Gao Cheng will not kill him, so he will naturally exchange him for ransom with Lan Qin as a hostage.

King Xiao Gao has always had this attitude towards his captives, he has not much talent, and the higher his official position, the more he must contact the enemy and let them ransom them, which can not only obtain a good reward, but also allow the incompetent to continue to be in a high position, which is a win-win situation.

In the future, I may be able to send another wave, and that is a win-win situation.

For this reason, Gao Cheng can even lower the ransom demand, which is touching.